LOCAL COLLEGE BASKETBALL: SSU men, women win

Saturday

Arnold Louis scored 16 points and Preston Blackman added 12 as Savannah State defeated North Carolina Central, 60-47, on Saturday to remain alone in first place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Patrick Hendley’s 3-pointer with 4:53 elapsed in the game put the Tigers (19-10, 12-2) ahead to stay. They shot 55 percent (11-of-20) in the first half to take a 36-25 lead over the Eagles (14-14, 8-6) at the break.

Joshua Montgomery’s trey with 15:11 remaining increased the Tigers’ lead to 12 points, 45-33, and their lead remained in double figures the rest of the way. Louis scored nine of his points in the second half.

The victory was the 11th in a row for Savannah State, which also defeated North Carolina Central, 67-57, on Feb. 11.

STATESBORO — Georgia Southern closed its regular season with a loss to Davidson at Hanner Fieldhouse.

The Eagles (14-14, 12-6 Southern Conference), who matched a school record for conference victories in a season, finished tied for second place in the South Division.

The Eagles lost a tiebreaker to Wofford and will be the third seed. Each team won one game head-to-head, so the tiebreaker fell to the record against College of Charleston. Wofford won twice over the Cougars while the Eagles split against them. GSU will open the tournament at 8:30 p.m. Friday against Chattanooga in Asheville, N.C.

Augusta State shot 60 percent from the floor in the first half, building a 17-point halftime lead and cruising to a Peach Belt Conference victory over host Armstrong Atlantic State University.

Augusta State hit 21 of 35 shots from the floor before intermission, including 7-of-12 3-pointers (58.3 percent) in building a 57-34 halftime advantage. A short-handed Armstrong squad (10-16, 6-12 PBC) that lost senior Chris Vanlandingham in the first half due to injury could not cut into the double-digit lead in the second half, despite shooting 60 percent from the floor (18-of-30) after intermission.

The Pirates finished the night placing four players in double figures, led by senior Mychal Horn, who had his second consecutive 30-point output on 10-of-21 shooting from the floor, including 5-of-9 3-pointers.

Augusta State played its way into the Peach Belt Conference tournament by knocking off host Armstrong Atlantic State in the regular-season finale for both teams.

The win gives the Jaguars (12-14, 7-11 PBC) the No. 4 seed out of the East thanks to a better division record over the Pirates (13-13, 7-11 PBC) as the two teams split in the regular season.

Mauri Wells canned a 3-pointer in the corner to bring the Pirates to within 55-53 in the final seconds. Armstrong fouled quickly on the inbound and Brittany White missed the front end of a one-and-one with 6.4 seconds left, but Wells’ off-balance jumper at the buzzer rimmed out.

Wells had 14 rebounds, giving her 338 for the season, the fourth-most in a single season in Armstrong women’s basketball history

CULLOWHEE, N.C. — A 16-2 run to start the second half proved to be too much for Georgia Southern to overcome in a loss to Western Carolina. GSU rallied to cut the deficit to three, but could not erase a 15-point lead.